How much trouble are LeBron, Lakers in? Could they blow 3-0 series lead?

"We're just a tight-knit group of guys, especially the young guys, we really banded together," Tari Eason said. "And I'm just proud of us… We just got to keep it rolling, one game at a time, back home, Game 6."

Rockets find new identity

For three games, Houston looked overwhelmed — by the moment, by the pressure defense from Los Angeles, by everything. Ime Udoka caught some flak for saying his team needed to "grow up."
However, maybe that's what they needed to hear.

The Rockets have come together and made a few adjustments. They cranked up their defensive pressure, forcing turnovers and getting points in transition. On offense, they started hunting Kennard. Also, the Rockets started getting Alperen Sengun the ball more in the middle of the floor (where it's harder to bring help).

Sengun, for his part, has settled into his role as more of a facilitator.'

"We learned it watching films, watching their defense, kind of understanding what they do now and there's no, no reason for me to rush the shot or, like, attack the double team," Sengun said after a 14-point, nine-rebound and eight-assist night in Game 5. "I'm just trying to pick them apart and find my teammates and find open shots. And that was my job today."

He did his job — every Rockets starter finished in double-digits.

That Rockets youth seems to be wearing down those Lakers, who have just looked old and slow, even with the return of Austin Reaves.

Lakers need to re-establish their identity

While the Rockets' offense has improved in the last few games, Lakers coach JJ Redick didn't see his team's defense as the issue after a 99-92 loss in Game 5 at home.

"You hope 99 [points] is enough to win and we just couldn't make shots," Redick said. "We missed some layups. Certainly, [we] had some good looks from three that didn't go down."

"I mean, we have some opportunities to make some shots we didn't make, obviously. Think we're generating good shots," LeBron James said, echoing his coach. "As much as we gotta defend, we also gotta score in this game too, and I don't think we did that at a good rate, especially in the second and third [quarters]."

Reaves' return was supposed to help with that, and he did put up 22 points off the bench, but he did most of that damage at the free throw line. Reaves shot 4-of-16 for the game and looked to wear down late, shooting 1-of-8 in the fourth quarter.

The Lakers are still in the driver's seat — they still need to win just one of two games. Reaves should shake off the rust and look better going forward. LeBron has been in more high-leverage games than anyone on the planet and has lifted up teams to big wins before. Marcus Smart has been on big stages before and won. The Rockets are still young and making the mistakes of youth (Eason going back up with a putback with 38 seconds left in Game 5, when the Rockets were up three, rather than kicking out to run down more clock, for example). The odds remain in the Lakers' favor.

But make no mistake, they are in trouble. And the young Rockets believe they can make history.